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Cassiltoun Housing Association

Facts & Figures

Organisation Name

Cassiltoun Housing Association

People Benefiting

Local people of all age groups benefit through housing, training, voluntary experience, access to information and services and children benefit directly from the pre 5s nursery.

Area Served

Castlemilk, outskirts of Glasgow

Population

Between 1971 and 1991 the population of 37,000 fell by almost a half. It currently stands at approximately 11,000.

Sketch

Cassiltoun Housing Association started life as the Castlemilk East Housing Co-operative in 1984, when nine tenants in the Ballantay area decided to do something about the appalling conditions they were living in. With the support of Glasgow City Council, 90 of the Council’s houses were eventually transferred to ‘the co-op’, the first such housing stock transfer in Glasgow. Today Cassiltoun Housing Association is a community owned housing association managing its own stock of 1,000 houses. Its work is concerned with physical, social, environmental and economic matters, such as healthcare, crime prevention and lifelong learning initiatives and the development of skills, training, employment and social enterprise.

 

Legal Form

Cassiltoun Housing Association Ltd is a charity.
The Cassiltoun Trust is also a charity and is a subsidiary company of the Housing  Association

Volunteers

14 - working on boards and 6 regular volunteers on environmental projects

Staff

25 for housing association and 15 for the nursery

Earned Income

£3,700,000

Assets

Housing – 1000 properties; Castlemilk Stables.

 

Value of assets

Housing Association assets are worth 9.6 million. There is no current valuation of the Stables Block, but it is estimated to be worth around 5 million.

Roots & Links

Origins

The Castlemilk East Housing Co-operative.was first registered in 1984. In 2004 the housing co-operative converted to charitable status, and changed the name of the organisation to Cassiltoun Housing Association. The Cassiltoun Trust was established in 2000 to undertake the conversion of the Stables Block as a community hub.

Governance

Any tenant, joint tenant, dependent or resident of Castlemilk can become a member of the Housing Association by purchasing a share of the organisation for £1. Members elect a Board of Management at the AGM to govern the organisation’s affairs. The Trust Board is made up of a mix of community representatives, elected members and representatives from local agencies and is also elected at an annual AGM. The Nursery Board is made up of a mix of community representatives, professionals and parents.

Community Links

The Association and the Trust have strong links with all the local schools and nurseries.  We work in partnership with other local Housing Associations and the Jeely Piece Club.  We are also developing services alongside Glasgow Regeneration Agency and Glasgow City Council.  The Association actively engages with the local community through events and activities and community consultations

External Links

The anchor organisation is represented at a local and national level through a number of forums/bodies including the Wider Role Forum, Employers in Voluntary Housing, the Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and DTA Scotland. The Housing Association holds Investors in People Gold status.

 

Activities

Physical Hub

The multi award winning Stables Block now houses offices, a nursery, education/recreation facilities as well as the Housing Association offices and has external courtyard and community garden space.

Builds Local Capacity

Opportunities to develop skills, training and employment are offered to local people.

Delivers Services

We deliver: affordable mainstream housing; supported housing; benefits advice; premises for a nursery facility; space for training/away days and meetings; physical, arts studio, healthy eating and environmental activities.

Develops/Manages Services

Owns and manages 1000 residential properties; developed, own and manage Castlemilk Stables.  Owns a pre-5 nursery, a residential home for elderly homeless men and currently developing plans for an old church building and adjacent green space

Other

Rental income from office and nursery space provides long term sustainable future for Castlemilk Stables. Stables Block running costs are low due to use of renewable energy – ground source heat pumps and solar gains.  The Stables is a platform for wider regeneration activities which now include Castlemilk Park and plans to develop a social enterprise.

Main Achievements

Restoration of Castlemilk Stables and retaining this important building as a well used financially viable community asset

Increasing the profile of Castlemilk through wider engagement work.

Capacity building amongst volunteers who have control and leadership of the organisation.

A successful employability programme that has seen 70% of participants moving into employment

What Next

Biggest Challenge

Accessing funding in a challenging economic climate.

Delivering a range and variety of programmes with multiple funders with different funding parameters.

Lesson Learned

Never underestimate the level of time and commitment required even to deliver a small project.
Investing time in developing good working relationships with partner organisations is essential.

Aspirations

Further regeneration of Castlemilk Park
Development of a new Social Enterprise to increase economic activity within Castlemilk and increase opportunities for training and employment.

Contact

Name

Charlie Millar

Title

Chief Executive

Address Line 1

59 Machrie Road

Address Line 2

G45 0AS

City

Glasgow

District

Glasgow, City of

Fax

0141 634 9987